Writer's Blog: Rewriting? Now? On a Wednesday? (GASP)

OH! Before I forget: there will be a demo update this Friday with Chapter 15 and some of the new Chapter 17 (although Chapter 17 has references to an unimplemented scene).

Sorry for not being as active this month—I’ve been dealing with a health issue that left me sleep deprived enough that things have been taking four times as long to write and code. Don’t worry, though! I’m saw my doctor today and am now on both ulcer medication and a temporary sleep aide to reset my circadian rhythm. Within six weeks or so, I'll be right as rain again and back to falling asleep before five am. Although I have, alas, been medically forced to swear off Diet Dr. Pepper.

(That being said, expect a deluge of posts over this next week.)

I meant to post this writer’s blog last Friday when I updated Chapter 15, but then ran into complications that meant the update kept getting delayed--partially because I kept trying to fix my way around the problem I'm about to mention via adding as many variables as possible into Chapter 15. 

As for Chapter 17, there are problems galore when it comes to writing this almost-last chapter (my outline varies between 18 and 19 chapters at this point, but I’ve given different numbers in the past so that could always change). With the ending so close at hand, I’m now realizing that I didn’t code in enough variables for everything I wanted to impact the ending.

Some of these missing routes, I already knew. Scenes with Hope and John were always going to be rewritten and added, as were things like the ace romances and the slow burn Sally pathway (also the full Snickly path). Likewise with Kenzie’s potential kidnapping in Chapter 13. These examples, I was content to deal with during the rewrite, knowing that I could at least proceed with simplified versions and then add in more nuanced variation later. It also let me set aside things that I wasn’t feeling immediately inspired to write and return to them later after the potential percolated a while in my brain. It was a win-win!

What I didn’t anticipate was how much I want Button’s mindset to play a role in these final scenes, including their feelings towards Vengeance. There is a meter, but it’s currently very haphazardly executed; I want to replace the standard loss/gain with three-way system measuring affinity for Unity, Vengeance, and what I call the “Screw Both Y’all” Mindset where Button drives off into the sunset while flipping all authority figures the bird. I also want to elaborate on these philosophies in a way that tracks what Button decides to do for their future. Do they continue being an MIV? Become an NPO field agent that deals exclusively with groups like Vengeance? Take over Clarence’s job and become an administrator? Leave Aeon entirely?

Then there’s how Button decides to deal with a certain renegade Ment (the scenes that I’m currently writing). While trying to stay vague: I want Button’s views to change how the ultimate showdown happens, with said Ment calling Button out if they suddenly decide to change their attitude on things because of said Ment’s identity. (So, if your character does a one-eighty in attitude for potential sexy times, it’s going to be noticed and commented on.)

These are only to give a few examples, of course. There are other variables that I want to influence scenes as well (Chapter 2, for example, gets a whole new lecture on the Unity’s founding and the Korean Reunification). But none of these has been tracked. My recent attempts to shoehorn a statement into Chapter 15’s heist (by adding questions about how Button feels regarding codenames) aren’t quite working as I’d hoped. Rather, I feel like these issues are something that need to be coded in from the ground-up, and I’m faced with the difficulty of deciding whether to proceed with a half-assed version of the end that will get changed entirely or start my first official rewrite early so that I can code these issues in from the get-go and reset everyone’s saves.

So far, I haven’t been able to resist going back (I honestly need to, in order to figure out how the endings will be structured) but haven’t uploaded the changed files for early chapters. My current idea is to continue with the rewrite but keep the old files as the ones available online and simply have a “default” route (similar to how you can only proceed by accepting help in Chapter 14). Thus, the first ending available would only be for Buttons who want to continue on as an MIV, side with Unity, and have either a very positive or very negative relationship with Hope and John (all the in-between feelings need to be recoded, with a multi-description system for parental affection rather than a meter). The other endings will still get written at the same time, but they won’t be achievable until the new chapters are uploaded.

Alternatively, I can start uploading the rewritten chapters one at a time (with a lot of changes, not just the bare minimum), but this will mean delaying the final chapter release (although it also means a shorter editing period between the demo release and being submitted for publication). This is the route that I’d prefer, truthfully, especially since I can’t seem to write a single paragraph in Chapter 17 without going “darn, I wish that I’d already added this scene in Chapter 2 and tracked this variable in Chapter 3.”

Your thoughts would be appreciated, however, as ultimately I'll be relying on your feedback about what works and what needs to change in the story.